Friday, 7 June 2013

PUSSY RIOT – A PUNK PRAYER

Feb 2012: Pussy Riot played a gig in Moscow’s main Orthodox
cathedral. In March Maria Aleknina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina
Samutsevich were arrested by the Moscow police for ‘hooliganism on grounds of
religious hatred’ and sentenced to two years in prison.

Despite international
protests from Patti Smith, Bill Clinton and Madonna, two out of the original
three continue to remain in prison. Filmed over six months, Lerner and
Pozdorovkin managed to gain astonishing access to the courtroom as the women’s
show trial was unfolding. Reviled by much of the Russian public, the film
investigates the real people behind the balaclavas and what transformed these
women from feminist activists into modern icons.

Winner of World Cinema
Documentary: Special Jury Award, Sundance 2013. Opening film Sheffield Doc/Fest
2013. Pussy Riot have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 2013.